Category: lifestyle

It’s been almost two months since I started my bullet journal in the hopes of getting more organized at home, so I thought I’d do a quick accountability post. Here’s how my bullet journal adventure is unfolding so far!

Overall, I really like the process of using my bullet journal. It took me a while to get the hang of it, and I’m still refining the process to make it work for me — I have a tendency to spend way too much time doodling, which isn’t a problem when you use an electronic calendar — but the benefits of using a paper method are becoming very clear.

I use my bullet journal primarily to track my habits. I experimented with a few different layouts before landing on the one I used for my April 2017 habit tracker (above). It makes it really easy to see how consistent I’m being over the course of the month.

Last Monday was the first day of spring, which seems hard to believe given the negative temperatures and bare trees in Toronto this week. This, combined with the fact that there are no long weekends in March this year, has made it difficult to really, truly enjoy weekends. Sure, the days are getting longer, but it’s freezing and I can’t sit on a patio. Sure, I could stay home and binge-watch a Netflix series, but I want real, “thank goodness Monday is a holiday”-type R&R. What’s a girl to do?

Frigid, rainy weather be damned: with a little imagination, any weekend can become a long weekend, regardless of whether or not Monday is a work day. Here’s how I plan to spend my faux-long weekend:

On March 6, 1834, the town of York incorporated as the City of Toronto. Back then, the city’s population topped out at 10,000 inhabitants split between 5 wards. (By contrast, the 2016 census puts Toronto’s current population at 2,731,571 in 44 wards.)

How do you stay organized? I use my email calendar to schedule my work meetings, calls, and due dates, but when it comes to my personal life, I prefer to do it the old-school way — a calendar pinned to the wall in the kitchen, a to-do list in a spiral notebook, and handwritten reminders for more urgent tasks. I even keep a list of what’s in the fridge taped to a cabinet to help me plan meals during the week and avoid food waste. While the visual reminders are a great way to stay on top of things, it means that my work space is occasionally littered with sticky notes that stress me out rather than inspiring me to work.

I’ve been wanting to try bullet journaling for a while now, but I wasn’t sure if it was for me. I liked the idea of keeping everything I need to know in one place, but found the notation style to be a bit overwhelming. Also, if the Instagram #bulletjournaljunkies tag is any indication, people who are into bullet journaling are REALLY into bullet journaling. It all seemed a bit intense for someone who had a mostly-functional system already in place.